The outside of Buckingham Palace is getting ready for a concert to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. But if you walk past, you’ll notice a new addition to palace grounds, the “Tree of Trees.”
The 21-meter-tall tree was put in place days before it will be illuminated as the principal Platinum Jubilee beacon. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, Heatherwick paid special attention to detail as he designed the tree to celebrate The Queen’s Green Canopy Initiative – a campaign across the United Kingdom encouraging people to plant trees in honour of the Jubilee. The tree will have 80 steel branches holding 350 trees in aluminium pots with The Queen’s cypher.
Heatherwick said of his design: āThe tree twists and spirals, in a way symbolically spraying and arraying those 350 baby trees towards their final homes across the country. In a way, it is a symbol of the bigger initiative, which is about planting millions of trees.”
The trees were provided by Barcham trees, a Plant Healthy certified supplier of UK grown trees based in Cambridgeshire. The branches will include different species of trees, including Silver Birch, Rowan, Larch, Hornbeam, Hazel, Field Maple, and Alder. In another eco-friendly touch, the steel for the sculpture is repurposed and provided by Cleveland Steel in Yorkshire.
School children were on hand to help finish planting the last of the trees and to help weave LED lights through the branches so it’s ready for the beacon lighting. The Queen is said to have approved plans for the sculpture.
After the Jubilee weekend, trees will be gifted to different individuals and community groups to celebrate their work and inspire the next generation of tree planters. The trees will be carefully stored throughout the summer and then distributed just before planting season begins in October.
